Lost a couple of cories

[Taelen]

Well, I woke up this morning and checked on my 10g planted. One of my panda cories and one of my peppered cories had died. No visible clues so I could only assume an issue with the water.

Immediately I checked parameters and came up with:

pH = 6.4-6.5
ammonia = 0.15
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 10

Only thing I haven't checked yet was the kH but I don't see how that could have changed. Last PWC was over a week ago.

There are 3 of each cory and 1 betta in this tank. A couple of the other cories were a bit off as well. I did a 75% PWC right away and I'll see how everyone is doing when I get home.

 

[meegosh]

I'm sorry for your loss. Any reason why ammonia is showing up? New tank, mini-cycle? Is the temp ok? I'm not an expert by any means but I figured I would ask some basic questions.

 

[dskidmore]

The ammonia could be a result of the death, rather than the cause, and at that low a reading, it would depend on the brand of test kit as to how much I'd trust it. Of course, keep an eye on it.

Do you have A/C? Given recent weather, heat would be my first suspect. Other potential causes outside the water: chemicals sprayed nearby, painting in a nearby room, dumb roomates...

 

[Taelen]

I don't know of decaying plant matter could be a cause of the ammonia blip, as I posted in another thread, my hornwort is struggling a bit. I am watching it close now. The fish basically died in a very short span, so I'm not really convinced they would be the cause either. I only use the API liquid test kit.

As far as the other factors go, we do have A/C and the house is normally 22-24 degrees, I have thermometers in all my tanks and the temperatures are all ok. Negative on the other things you mentioned.

Would that little ammonia cause death?

 

[Zagz]

No that little ammonia would not cause death, it is possible they were sick from something before you got them. How long have you had them?

 

[Taelen]

I have had the 3 peppered cories for almost a year, the 3 pandas I added approximately 3 weeks ago or so.

I have to admit, I initially stated I lost 2, but the peppered cory seems to have bounced back, everyone was still going this morning, so the panda is the only little guy I lost. Hard to monitor them being at work, but I will keep a close eye.

 

[dskidmore]

Did you QT the pandas before putting them in the main tank? They could have brought something in.

 

[Taelen]

No, I did not. I have never done a QT on new stock I've bought. Perhaps this will end up being my lesson learned.

How do you folks that QT do it exactly?

 

[dskidmore]

I have a second tank that I at least minimally keep some plants growing in all the time. Some folks run the filter and feed the tank to keep the nitrogen cycle going. New fish go into the QT for observation for 1 month. Fish that are wild caught and that tend to carry parasites I give a pre-emptive treatment to, but most just get observed. If any fish die, or I impulsivly buy more fish and have to QT them together, the 1 month resets. After the month, I do some big water changes with water from the main tank, and then just scoop them from one tank to the other.

 

[Taelen]

In retrospect, I probably should have used this tank as a QT tank. But I'd have to buy and start up another tank at this point. Something to think about though for sure, thanks.

 

[Taelen]

So, I did lose another Panda over the weekend, looks like they did bring something in with them. This guy had a red mark behind his gill/fin with a white area. Could this be ich? I hope not.

So far everyone else is still alive, 1 panda, 3 peppered cories and 1 betta. If it wipes out the tank, I will indeed have learned my lesson about QT procedure. =(

 

[dskidmore]

If you can diagnose the problem, you can treat the survivors so they don't come down with it to. Post a picture of the red mark?

 

[Taelen]

I took some pictures on Saturday, I will try and get them up this evening. My camera is not the greatest, I have always had issues trying to take clear pics of my fish.

 

[dskidmore]

Check the stickies at the top of the Unhealthy fish forum. You may find the diagnostic info you need there.

 

[JohnPaul]

If you can see visible signs of disease on any of your fish, you need to get them out of your main tank and into a separate tank ASAP, or else you risk a major disaster.

One other thing, just more FYI than anything else, my own experience (and others I have spoken with have had the same opinion) is that panda corys tend to be a lot more frail than a lot of other corys in the hobby. On several occasions I've bought healthy-looking pandas from an LFS I trust very much (has by far the best, healthiest stock of any of the stores in the area), they will go in tanks where everything else (including several other cory species) is thriving, and inevitably within about a month they are all dead. I always do a "post mortem" examination on any fish that die in my tanks, and never have I found any visible signs of disease. But the dang panda corys just simply do NOT want to stay alive for me. I was mentioning my frustration to someone in the local (regional) aquarium society (a very experienced aquarist) and he said the same thing: he could keep any other kind of cory alive, had even had success breeding several different species, but every time he had tried panda, they would go kaput, despite being in tanks where other corys were doing fine.

So...I dunno. This is hardly scientific, and I supsect *somebody* out there must be successfully keeping these guys. But I do think they are on the fragile side of the spectrum, at least from what I've seen.

 

[Taelen]

I checked the diagnostics and I don't think it's ich. If anything maybe columnaris? Hard to say, none of the other symptoms are present. As it stands right now, everyone is still ok with no further signs of distress.

I double checked my pictures, they are useless. I can't take a good picture of my fish to save my life.

JohnPaul, I am in the same boat, I bought these cories from a trusted LFS. I have been wanting to get some of these for a while, so when they finally had them (even for 7 bucks each), I had to get them. If all of them die and the other fish survive, then it's definitely the pandas. I have had similar issues trying to keep black phantom tetras alive in my 38g.